Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

May 4th, Friday…

Shanghai, Long Yu Corporation headquarters.

Eric was reading a report seriously in the conference room while Zhao Xuming sat by the side and waited patiently, observing Eric's expression from time to time.

Eric put the report down and nodded after a long time. "Yes, this report is not bad. It might not be perfect, but it is worth reference."

Zhao Xuming felt relieved and quickly said, "Of course. My colleagues placed great importance on this report in order to complete it. They researched a lot of data and distributed a lot of questionnaires."

"It would be our honor if it can help you."

Eric put the report aside. "Let's end the report first. We can't relax now. There's still a lot of work to do."

"In terms of the overseas league, we are at a disadvantage apart from the European and American regions. The development of the mobile version is not smooth either. The previous version did not have data interconnection. I have already sent feedback to the headquarters. They said that they would modify it and work hard to achieve data interconnection. However, that would result in the mobile version being delayed for a period of time before it can be released."

"The popularity of Mission and Choice has made GOG's new hero, 'Skylark' popular again. This is bad news for us…"

During this period, the confrontation between GOG and IOI was mainly focused in four different segments.

The first segment was the overseas league.

The overseas leagues of the two games had basically been organized up till now. Of course, they were mainly concentrated in relatively developed areas.

After all, there had to be a foundation of players before there would be players and an audience. Only then would the league become popular.

The overseas league was also accompanied by the promotion of overseas servers.

Finger Games and Tengda Corporation adopted two different marketing plans: Finger Games took on everything. They were responsible for the promotion of competitions in all regions of the world. They opened branch companies in each region and operated together. On the other hand, Tengda was working with local big companies to give them ample freedom.

Reality proved that Tengda Corporation's method was much more effective in the early stages.

These large companies were familiar with the local situation. What's more, working with Tengda was profitable. Naturally, they were working very hard to promote it. Finger Games had a stronger influence in the European and American regions. Thus, both sides were evenly matched. However, GOG obviously had the upper hand in places like South America, Eastern Europe, Eastern Asia, and Southeast Asia.

The second segment was the mobile version.

Finger Games had been developing the mobile version of IOI. It was quite efficient. They had already released the first beta version and were prepared to start testing.

However, Eric immediately called the upper echelons after receiving the beta version and asked them to cancel the test and continue developing it.

That was because Eric realized that the IOI mobile version of the beta version did not have complete data intercommunication!

Obviously, the person-in-charge of IOI's mobile game development at Finger Games did not think too much about it. He only transplanted a portion of heroes suitable for mobile games in IOI, changed to controlling them using virtual joysticks and skill roulette and then symbolically transplanted a few skins.

In terms of fees, they had originally intended to charge heroes and skins again.

At first glance, this seemed very reasonable. The client-side game had to be developed as well. It required a lot of manpower. If the client-side game could be used casually, where would the money earned from developing the mobile game come from?

However, Eric's call made the higher-ups realize the seriousness of the problem.

This was not just a mobile game. It was part of the price war with GOG!

One had to know that all of GOG's data were interconnected. The gamers would explode if they found out that IOI client-side games and mobile games were not interconnected, and they had to buy new skins after obtaining the game.

Finger Games had been scolded by gamers once because of the problem of the heroes and the price of skins. They could not make the same mistake again.

Eric could not help but feel emotional. That was how he fought with Boss Pei. He could not relax for even a moment!

That was because Boss Pei would always be at the front. He would definitely walk into the trap that Boss Pei had dug for him as long as he relaxed slightly.

However, IOI's mobile version would be delayed once again.

The third segment was the ICL and GPL league.

There was nothing much to say about this. The ICL league was still being beaten by the GPL league.

What was worth mentioning was that the three popular sources of the ICL league were the FV Club, the unofficial commentator from Bunny Tail live-stream, and the BP live-stream competition. All three of these sources of popularity were related to Tengda…

The fourth segment was the current domestic market operations of IOI and GOG.

There was nothing much to say. IOI was still being beaten by GOG.

What was even more terrifying was that the market share of the two games was not on the same level to begin with. Recently, with the release of Mission and Choice and the release of the game, GOG's market share was still rising, and it was still squeezing IOI's living space!

That was because GOG and Mission and Choice had jointly released the new hero, Skylark.

GOG was supposed to help 'Mission and Choice' generate popularity, but after 'Mission and Choice' became popular, it helped GOG generate popularity instead!

Thus, Eric did not have an easy time during this period. All sorts of things kept him busy.

He had to take the time to study Boss Pei's mindset in order to defeat Boss Pei. He had to work hard to know his enemy.

Of course, Eric had already researched Boss Pei's way of thinking and judged that Boss Pei was a "gambler" half a year ago.

He had asked Zhao Xuming to bring the people from Long Yu Corporation to present this report. That was to further confirm his own thoughts.

It turned out that everyone had the same view. That made Eric more confident.

The key to breaking Boss Pei's undefeated legend was to make use of Boss Pei's 'gambler' mentality!

Eric went to the conference room alone to sort out the information he had recently obtained after sending Zhao Xuming away.

"Boss Pei always succeeds because of a very important factor."

"That is, Boss Pei seems to always be able to 'break out of the circle'. That's very magical."

"Take 'Mission and Choice' for example. Almost everyone thought that it would not be able to recoup its costs after learning about the investment in the game and movie.

"That's because the market for games and movies is only so big and there are only so many loyal users. It is impossible to recoup its costs according to conventional data."

"However, it obviously cannot be measured using conventional data from the sales volume of the game and the box office performance of the movie. In other words, Mission and Choice attracted many people who did not watch sci-fi movies or even movies. It also made many people who did not play RTS games willingly fork out money."

"Movies and games can also enter the overseas market. That would be an additional income."

"It is precisely because of these additional groups and additional income that Mission and Choice did not incur losses. Instead, it became popular and made a huge profit."

"This is Tengda Corporation's strength, and it might also become its fatal weakness."

"That's because Boss Pei often does things that are extremely risky and reap huge rewards. Thus, once he 'breaks through' the circle, he can always create miracles. However, if he fails, the entire Tengda Corporation would definitely suffer greatly."

"This is in line with my previous speculation: Boss Pei's secret to quickly promote GOG is actually burning money. Boss Pei is a gambler. Tengda Corporation and him are dancing on the edge of a knife. The company's ability to resist risks is not strong."

"Therefore, if we want to win against Boss Pei, we have to make an issue out of this.

"Now should be the time when Tengda Corporation's capital chain is at its weakest. It's also the best time to strike!"

When Eric asked Boss Pei three questions previously, he had mentioned a number: 100 million US dollars. He said that this was the upper limit of the amount Dayak Corporation could afford.

Eric felt that these words had probably established an anchor point in Boss Pei's mind and had played a hint.

In other words, Boss Pei would probably reserve about the same amount of funds to deal with Finger Games' money-burning war. It would not be much even if he had a little extra.

The money-burning war was ongoing. From IOI's local server to the domestic league, then to the international league and the mobile version…

However, Eric did not place all his chips on it. Instead, he carefully burned money while observing.

Now, Eric felt that the time had come.

Tengda Corporation had spent a huge amount of money on 'Mission and Choice' a while ago. It would still take a long time to recover the funds even though movies and games could make money.

On top of that, Tengda Corporation had opened many new projects recently, and their cell phones needed a lot of stock. Thus, cash flow must be very tight.

It was obviously the best time to burn money at this point in time!

This huge sum of money would be very effective if Boss Pei did not follow. It would instantly reverse IOI and GOG's attack and defense. If Boss Pei followed, Tengda Corporation's already fragile capital chain would become even more precarious.

Eric could not help but reveal a proud smile. He had finally found the perfect opportunity to turn the tables after lying low for so long!